No spots for hundreds of NYC school kids

Comments

By Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

Updated

Hundreds of public schoolchildren in New York City won't be going to class today, the first day of classes, because there are no seats for them, the NY Daily News is reporting.

The issue is a headache for parents.

"I'm aggravated and depressed," Kema Brown, 34, of Brooklyn, told the News regarding her so-far fruitless visits to Education Department offices to find a spot for her son, Juwan, 11.

Brown, a sanitation worker, took an unpaid day off from work to find a seat for her son after he did not get a space in his neighborhood school. All the offices she visited were packed with frustrated parents, she said.

"It's a big headache," Brown told the News.

City education officials said the situation was part of the normal start of the school season.

"Our enrollment offices and student registration centers are working hard," Education Department spokesman Frank Thomas told the news organization.

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

About Doug Stanglin

Doug is an unrepentant news junkie who loves breaking news and has been known to watch C-SPAN even on vacation. He has covered a wide range of domestic and international news stories, from prison riots in Oklahoma to the Moscow coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. Doug previously served as foreign editor at USA TODAY. More about Doug

About Michael Winter

Michael Winter has been a daily contributor to On Deadline since its debut in January 2006. His journalism career began in the prehistoric Ink Era, and he was an early adapter at the dawn of the Digital Age. His varied experience includes editing at the San Jose Mercury News and The Philadelphia Inquirer.